Establishment of a Complaint Response Team under Principal's Responsibility
Strengthening Parental Responsibility for 'Special Education' and More
From now on, teachers will no longer have to answer parents' complaint calls on their personal mobile phones. The Ministry of Education will establish a complaint response team within schools to receive and distribute complaints on behalf of teachers. Additionally, to prevent indiscriminate reports of child abuse, the Ministry plans to make it mandatory to hear the opinions of metropolitan and provincial offices of education before starting investigations or inquiries.
On the 23rd, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho unveiled the comprehensive plan for "Restoring and Strengthening Teacher Authority and Protection" at the annex of the Government Seoul Office.
First, the system will be improved so that institutions, not individual teachers, respond to complaints. The Ministry of Education will establish a system where the school principal is responsible for handling complaints, pilot it from the second semester, and officially implement it from next year. Teachers will have the right not to respond to complaint requests made via personal mobile phones and the right to refuse to answer complaints unrelated to educational activities.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Education will filter out indiscriminate child abuse reports. Legitimate guidance by teachers according to laws and school regulations will be distinguished from child abuse crimes, and the opinions of metropolitan and provincial offices of education will be mandatorily heard before investigations or inquiries begin. The government plans to pursue amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Early Childhood Education Act, and Child Abuse Punishment Act to this end. Also, at the stage of starting investigations or inquiries, decisions on suspension from duty will be strictly made based on the education office’s opinion letter.
Responses to infringements on educational activities will also be strengthened. When an infringement occurs, the infringing student will be immediately separated from the teacher to protect the teacher, and if urgent guidance is needed, priority measures will be taken even before the Teacher Authority Protection Committee’s review. If the infringing student fails to comply with the measures, penalties of level 4 (suspension from attendance) or higher will be imposed, and serious infringement measures defined by presidential decree, similar to school violence, will be recorded in the school life record. This part also requires amendments to the Teacher Status Act.
In addition, the school teacher authority protection committee will be transferred to the education support office to enhance the reliability of measures and activate its operation. A standard model expanding the coverage of teacher liability insurance by region will be developed and introduced to metropolitan and provincial offices of education next month to support compensation for affected teachers starting next year. The Teacher Healing Support Center will be expanded and reorganized into the Educational Activity Protection Center to provide psychological counseling, legal support, and more.
Parental responsibility will also be strengthened. First, through amendments to related laws, guardians will be obligated to protect teachers’ educational activities and respect and cooperate with their professionalism and discretion. Additionally, acts by parents that disrupt educational activities by raising unusual complaints will be defined as a new type of infringement, and sanctions such as "written apology and pledge to prevent recurrence, special education completion" will be newly established in related regulations. If special education is not completed, fines will be imposed to ensure effectiveness.
Moreover, protection measures for childcare teachers’ childcare activities at daycare centers will be strengthened. Although the integration of early childhood education and care is not yet complete, the Ministry of Health and Welfare will first clarify the legal basis for the state and local governments’ obligation to protect childcare activities through amendments to the "Infant and Toddler Care Act." After the integration, the Ministry of Education plans to establish a stable teacher authority protection system during the process of revising related laws such as the legal status of childcare teachers and teacher qualifications.
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